Wednesday, 12 February 2014

There will be a protest outside the Cornerstone Cafe, 2-6 Cambridge Street, St Neots on Saturday 15th February from 12pm to 3pm. We will be protesting Paul Shinners' involvement in the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda and his refusal to answer questions or reach out to his contacts in Uganda to condemn the bill.

In December 2012 Paul Shinners attended an anti-gay rally in Uganda calling for the passage of the Anti-Homosexuality Bill. It has been about since 2009, but It finally passed in December 2013 and is likely to come into effect within the next week when the Ugandan Parliament resumes. It was known as the "Kill the Gays" Bill and though there are rumours that the death penalty has been removed, no final draft of the bill has been made public. The bill also included a prison sentence for any family member, friend or colleague who doesn't report anyone for being homosexual within 24 hours and a ban on "gay propaganda" similar to the recent law in Russia, which will have a devastating effect on HIV prevention and treatment.

For years homosexuals have been subject to public outings in the tabloids and many have been beaten and some even murdered. Lesbians have been the victim of "corrective rape" to cure them of their homosexuality. Since the passage of the bill the number of attacks have escalated dramatically.

There were two small protests in January of last year when Paul Shinners was still in Africa and he put out a statement claiming not to be homophobic, but the phrase "hate the sin, not the sinner" is often used by people in Uganda and elsewhere to distance themselves from the homophobe label. When I asked Paul what he thought Homophobia meant he said "nothing." He claimed not to have seen or heard any homophobia on his many trips to Africa over the last decade, which is very suspect given he has visited a number of aggressively homophobic countries many of them with Anti-Gay laws.

A number of people have tried to contact Paul regarding his actions/views but had no response and he has been deliberately evasive and vague in any response he has given me.

When the story broke last year, I contacted Paul to get his side of the story and he agreed to meet me but then rescheduled a number of times over a couple of weeks, so I sent him an email asking a few questions to better understand his opinion on homosexuality and his contacts in Uganda. He replied saying that he would put out a "clear statement" regarding his beliefs and actions in the next few days, but one never materialised. He also told me that if I had contacted him sooner he could have used his influence to stop the bill, yet he has since had a whole year and has done nothing.

Since the bill has now passed I tried to engage Paul in a dialogue again. After a number of evasive emails I held a small protest outside his shop the other week and he agreed to a conversation with me.